Pharmaniaga said the government was not solely dependent on it for the supply of medicines to public health facilities.

“Contrary to the claims, the health ministry spent approximately 35% of its pharmaceutical spending via Pharmaniaga, with our role limited to managing the logistics and distribution of the products,” it said in a statement today.

It was responding to remarks made by Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy CEO Azrul Khalib over the renewal of its concession to provide medicine and medical supplies to health ministry facilities.

In a report by health portal CodeBlue, Azrul said exclusive concessions granted to companies like Pharmaniaga have created an “unhealthy over-dependence” on them.

Pharmaniaga said the selection of suppliers, products and prices is determined by the health ministry after concluding an open tender exercise.

It also rejected insinuations that the extension of its concession will discourage other pharmaceutical companies from doing business in Malaysia.

It said the supply of medicines on the Approved Product Purchase List (APPL) is based on a tender system.

“All winning tenders are decided by the health ministry. The concession given to Pharmaniaga is merely for the logistics and distribution of APPL products,” it said.

“Currently, there are 729 APPL products, supplied by 96 companies that are selected via open tender.”

On Tuesday, health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa confirmed that Pharmaniaga had been given a conditional agreement to continue providing medical supplies to the government for another 10 years.

Pharmaniaga said it was given the concession based on its track record in consistently meeting the ministry’s key performance indicators (KPIs).

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